PicksInSix Review: The Winter's Tale - Chicago Shakespeare Theater

‘Winter’s Tale’– A Study of Extremes.
PicksInSix® Review | Ed Tracy

You can be sure that at some point in an early production meeting for Chicago Shakespeare Theater’s “The Winter’s Tale,” CST Artistic Director Edward Hall surely said that the bear at the center of Antigonus’s famous demise needed to be big. Extremely BIG!

It’s a singular highlight of many in Hall’s ambitious and thrilling 40th season opener that debuted on Sunday with the first of two of Shakespeare’s plays presented in repertory by a company of 14 exceptionally gifted actors, many of whom have been at the heart of the theatre's work for decades. The connective tissue between “Winter's Tale” and the second offering, “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” are two studies of dramatic extremes centered around love, jealousy, loss and redemption. “Winter’s Tale,” with its dark and disturbing opening, sets a much more serious set of circumstances then the fantastical frolicking of fairies in “Midsummer.”

The inherent elements in the drama of “Winter’s Tale” revolve around the unyielding actions of Sicilia King Leontes (Demetrios Troy), a jealous cad who is unable to contain his rage and hatred amid his own unfounded suspicions of an affair between his pregnant Queen Hermione (Jessica Dean Turner) and his longtime friend Polixenes (Chiké Johnson), King of Bohemia. The fallout from Leontes’s actions lead to the banishment of his baby daughter Perdita and the unseen deaths of Hermione, reported by Paulina (Issy Van Randwyck), and their son Mamillius (Felicia Oduh). As Act I draws to a close, Leonte withdraws into deep depression after learning the truth from the oracle of Delphos presented at Hermione’s trial for adultery. If that is not enough heartache, consider Leonte’s order to his attendant Camillo (Erik Hellman) to kill Polixenes, who tells Polixenes of the scheme and then escapes to Bohemia with him. All the while the dutiful Antigonus (Ronald L. Conner), Lord of Sicilia, abandons the baby Princess Perdita in Bohemia before meeting a tragic end himself by the aforesaid bear.

As a breath of fresh air, Act 2 begins 16 years later in the colorful Bohemian opulence where Perdita (Oduh) has been raised by the Old Shepherd (Kevin Goodall) and his simple son the Young Shepherd (Dan Haller). Hall creates a festive atmosphere in Bohemia with innovative staging and the spirited music of the band “Sheep Trick” with its charismatic frontman Autolycus (Sean Fortunato). In another stellar comic performance, Fortunato dazzles as a salty rogue whose endearing charm and captivating nature literally strip the pants off Haller’s Young Shepherd. Autolycus eventually gets his comeuppance but not before Fortunato delivers a belly full of broad laughs.

Perdita and Polixenes’ son, Florizel (Esteban Ortiz-Villacorta), declare their love for each other despite his father’s disapproval. Returning to Sicilia, and with the passing of time exposed, so is the fine line between remorse and redemption. Always a challenging element of this particular play based on what has come before, Hall masterfully navigates the staging of the emotional reconciliation. While there is hope for the young lovers, a powerful and timely message of the moment about repentance and forgiveness is delivered that felt truer to the story than in any other production I have ever seen, and all without a spoken word. Watch for the moment. It is quite remarkable.

Hall’s repertory company is universally excellent. There are clever and entertaining performances of original compositions by Kieran McCabe throughout. Michael Pavelka’s elegant costumes and expansive set design transforms effortlessly from a courtly manor to a textured, earthy look awash in color for Bohemia with eye-popping projections. Marcus Doshi’s stunning lighting design, with an arresting soundscape by Emily Hayman, completes a versatile and visually stunning look for this superb production.

PHOTO|Kyle Flubacker

Chicago Shakespeare Theater
presents
The Winter’s Tale
Courtyard Theater
Navy Pier
through December 12, 2026
In repertory with
A Midsummer Night’s Dream
November 11, 2026 through January 3, 2027

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PicksInSix Review: The Merry Wives of Windsor - Chicago Shakespeare Theater

Delightfully Devious Duo Meets Rotund Rapscallion!
PicksInSix® Review | Ed Tracy

Directed with comic zeal by Phillip Breen and featuring Jason Simon in a terrific performance as the rotund rapscallion Sir John Falstaff, Chicago Shakespeare Theater’s lively production of “The Merry Wives of Windsor” is a rip-roaring farce if ever there was one. Set in modern times that often stretch the imagination, the sparkling cast delivers a robustly-paced theatrical gem on Navy Pier!  

Breen’s familiarity with the challenging material pays off. He has certainly discovered every intended comic opportunity—and countless others for good measure—and hits the mark at every turn, all centered around the dubious exploits of Simon’s Falstaff that fail like clockwork, not once, but three times at the hands of the delightfully devious duo of Mistress Ford (Issy Van Randwyck) and Mistress Page (Ora Jones). From the moment they receive identical love letters from Sir John, the two work in tandem to cook his goose while remaining undetected by their husbands, Master Page (Chiké Johnson) and Master Ford (Timothy Edward Kane), despite suspicions to the contrary. Aye, there’s the rub!

Who could blame them for their playful mischievousness? Falstaff’s overt desires turn away his entourage (the entertaining trio of Bardolph (Teddy Gales), Pistol (Colin Huerta), and Nym (Zack Bloomfield)—leaving him vulnerable to the combined forces of the merry wives and the spirited Mistress Quickly (a charming role for Nancy Voigts). As a result, Falstaff must unwittingly fend for himself, eluding discovery by the jealous Ford (Kane) by stuffing his magnificence in a laundry box that is later tossed away in the Thames and then forced to don lady’s clothing and endure an unseen thrashing during a hasty retreat. Throughout, Simon’s Falstaff is never the victim, but rather a hapless fop, like a dog with bone, easily swayed by flattery and the promise of passionate fulfillment. When he concedes a third time to a meeting in Windsor Park, now in the guise of “Herne the Hunter” with everyone in on the ruse, Falstaff is finally, and publicly, humiliated for his transgressions, and must makes amends.

In addition to the brilliant performances by Randwyck, Jones and Kane, the cast is loaded with Chicago talent from top to bottom including Nick Sandys (Sir Hugh Andrews), Paul Oakley Stovall (Justice Shallow), Alex Weisman (Slender), Nate Burger (Dr. Caius) and Bret Tuomi (Host of the Garter Inn). In the love story, Oliva Pryor is an earnest Anne Page, whose marital future lies with one of three suitors, Caius, Slender and Fenton, who is played by Sam Bell-Gurwitz, and is the true object of her affections.

Rich scenic and lavish costume designs by Max Jones—particularly the Ford’s elegant home, the Garter Inn and in the haunting Windsor Park—are visually striking with notable surprises dropping down from above and phoning in from below. The Jentes Family Courtyard Theatre is awash in Marcus Doshi’s crisp lighting design and the lush soundscape by Lindsay Jones, with the clever use of some contemporary songs that bust out along the way.

All in, Shakes “Merry Wives” is at its’ very merry best when Simon is uproariously navigating the fine line of reckless passion and the resulting over-the-top antics set in motion by the far superior wives who keep us rooting for his inevitable comeuppance. From his larger-than-life grand entrance to his humbling demise, Simon delivers a flawless performance and rightly receives a glorious and genuinely warm last laugh for his efforts, sprinkled with a tender touch of finality for one of Shakespeare’s most enduring characters.

PHOTO|Kyle Flubacker

Chicago Shakespeare Theater
presents
The Merry Wives of Windsor
Navy Pier
through May 3, 2026

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PicksInSix Review: Ashland Avenue - Goodman Theatre

"Ashland Avenue" Examines A Passing Era
PicksInSix® Review | Guest Contributor | Ronald Keaton

At work, with relationships, in our very existence, we all are forced to come to grips with the end of something, a traumatic and daunting wall to climb. In playwright/filmmaker Lee Kirk's new play “Ashland Avenue,” now playing at the Goodman Theatre through October 12, everyone involved meets their own kind of 'ending' which then translates—as we all hope it will—into a new beginning in which to invest our energies.

In this story, it's about family dynamic. Pete (Francis Guinan), a widower, is the entrepreneur of what used to be a string of popular shops selling televisions, but now is down to one store, the original on Ashland Avenue. His television commercials from the old days made him a kind of Chicago legend, which inspires a life achievement award on his behalf. So, he has to make a speech. Pete's also quite a talker, as good salespeople should be, and he's had to sell off or close his other stores to survive. He remains stuck in sales methods that, with the advent of the internet, make him a bit of a dinosaur in the business world. Hence, his bad luck at a time in life when he is being urged to rest on his laurels, so to speak.

Now Pete has a daughter, Sam (Jenna Fischer), whose entire youth saw her involved with Dad's business. When not at school, she helped whenever possible in various ways; she kept the store clean, helped with record-keeping and whatever else needed to be done. All this time, Sam is developing her own dreams of being a novelist. Her husband Mike (Chiké Johnson), who helps out in the store, is a frustrated graphic artist and writer with three novels to his credit that just don't seem to help him find career traction. Sam and Mike are preparing for a move to Los Angeles and have struggled to find the words to tell her father.

To complicate things further, Pete has taken in a former employee, Jess (Cordelia Dewdney) and her two children, in an unusual stew of family concern and seeming romantic leanings that do not pan out.  And Jess is moving to Naperville, because her ex-husband Charlie has supposedly cleaned up from his drug habit. Pete doubts it all, of course, and continually tries to talk her into staying at his house, as he says, "for the children."

And this is all Act I. When Act II comes, the fruits of all the labor at last pay off. We see the essence of the give-and-take between Pete and his daughter, Sam and Mike in the welcome career news from LA, and Jess in a kind of "come-to-Jesus" realization about her irresponsible ex-husband. When all is said and done and Pete can sit quietly, reflecting on his last couple of days, he breaks down emotionally. To top it all off, the junkie Charlie (Will Allan) shows up at the store, wanting to sell a cable box for drug money. Pete realizes who he is and calls him on it, prompting a wild breakdown from Charlie and a not-so-surprising reaction of care and concern from Pete. That relationship at the end of the story prompts thoughts of what THAT play might be like.

The story becomes a thought-provoking combination of sitcom and morality tale about change and how such elements affect someone facing retirement, let alone what to do next in life. Mr. Kirk's script is well considered and interesting. Goodman Artistic Director Susan V. Booth offers this story in intimate, loving strokes. The thick, yet simple set design by Kevin Depinet has both nostalgia and the reality of existence in it. Ms. Fischer is a delicate surprise, and her work with the marvelous Mr. Johnson is fun to watch. Ms. Dewdney inhabits an appropriately desperate Jess, while the ex-husband literally explodes on Pete in Charlie's scene at the end. And Mr. Guinan, a real Chicago treasure who offers an actor's master class here, shares with us all a performance of eloquence and substance in all the fodder that Pete has to face. Pete's not Willy Loman, nor should he be. He's quieter and more introspective. But his Waterloo is just as valid and vital.

GUEST CONTRIBUTOR | RONALD KEATON received an Equity Jeff Award for the performance of his one-man show CHURCHILL. www.solochicagotheatre.com  Coming soon, his new solo play about Ben Franklin, THE FIRST EMBASSY.

PHOTO|Todd Rosenberg

Goodman Theatre
presents
World Premiere
Ashland Avenue
Albert Theatre
170 N Dearborn Street
Extended
through October 12, 2025

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PicksInSix Review: Hymn - Chicago Shakespeare Theater

Crisp, Compelling ‘HYMN’ at Chicago Shakes.
PicksInSix® Review | Ed Tracy

Lolita Chakrabarti’s absorbing new play “Hymn” that opened Saturday at Chicago Shakespeare Theater’s Courtyard Theater directed by Ron OJ Parson features two of Chicago’s most accomplished actors, Chiké Johnson and James Vincent Meredith. The show follows two 50ish Black men who share much more than the fact that their birthdays are a few days apart. That fact may be enough to set up what follows without blatantly divulging the other, more significant, genetic marker they have in common.

“Hymn” plays out in a series of scenes set in South Side Chicago over the course of a year in the lives of Benny (Johnson), a logistics professional and family man who grew up in a tough neighborhood and Gil (Meredith), whose father, an accomplished dry cleaning business owner has recently passed. Gil has been engaged as a partner in the family operation that has allowed an affluent lifestyle. When we first meet Benny, things are a bit unhinged.

Early on we discover some radical lifestyle differences. While Benny attended public school in Englewood, Gil graduated from prestigious Saint Ignatius. Both are tentative at first, understandably wary on many levels. That all dissolves away into a fast and meaningful friendship, sharing common experiences, life lessons and future dreams with a strong, fulfilling brotherhood developing. Gil is welcomed into Benny’s family and a warm, respectful kinship takes hold. Things turn quickly though as other forces beyond their control eventually come into play and the partnership that started with such promise is suddenly in serious jeopardy.

Chakrabarti’s characters are superbly defined and Johnson and Meredith are excellent in this 100 minute drama. Parson, a multiple Jeff award-winning director in his first production at Shakes, skillfully maneuvers the ebb and flow of the action as the men rekindle experiences missed from an earlier era through the music of their lives. These are two wonderfully warm and genuine performances filled with sincerity and humor.

Scenic/projections designer Rasean Davonté Johnson has replicated an elegant, wood hewed set on the Courtyard Theatre’s thrust stage with multi-purpose benches on each side with elaborate drops that frame the various projections. Jason Lynch’s lighting and Yvonne Miranda’s costumes complete the savory visual landscape. There is a definite wink and a nod in the timely use of music to punctuate the story, much a part of the script and expertly executed by sound designer and composer Willow James.

“Hymn” is a powerful example of what Chakrabarti calls “a universal story of finding commonality and love” even as it reaches out with music to build a bridge of trust and brotherly love. The influential women in these men’s lives, though unseen, radiate an extraordinary level of love and support which comes through brilliantly in the rich text and Parson’s crisp, compelling production.     

PHOTO|Vashon Jordan Jr.

Chicago Shakespeare Theater
presents
World Premiere
HYMN
Jentes Family Courtyard Theater
Navy Pier
through May 25, 2025

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PicksInSix® is a registered trademark of Roxbury Road Creative, LLC